Denial (SVU)
A drug addict is sexually assaulted, but she is in trouble when a finger is found in her purse. Plot Heroin junkie Claire Rinato is found raped at a party, her rapist is quickly found and sent to jail, but a 13 year old mystery soon emerges when a severely decomposed finger is found in her purse. Fin takes a special interest in the case because he senses that Claire has more demons then most and seems to connect with her. At first Claire tries to claim that she had found the finger on the street but this is proven to be a lie because it shows absolutely no signs of being left in the open, Claire then states that the finger had actually come from her two year old sister Lisa and that her mother, Grace had killed her because of the mothers anger over her consistent crying and stashed her body in a suit case within a cupboard. The detectives approach Grace who denies the story and states that Claire has a history of lying, and detectives Benson and Stabler ask if they can search her home in order to find out whether or not it is really true and Grace quickly denies, when the detectives are back at the precinct however Cragen soon informs them that the mother has declared that she will allow the detectives to search but only the next day when she is home from work, the detectives stake out her house and catch her in the act of dumping the bones of Lisa. The blame is tossed between whether or not Claire had actually murdered her sister or if Grace had, because Claire had a history of violence against other children when she was a minor. But eventually it is called upon Rose, Graces mother, to speak out about how Grace had murdered her first born child, by smothering him to death, and therefore revealed that Grace was also very violent with Lisa. At the end of the episode, Graces Lawyer asks what deals Cabot is offering and Cabot quickly declines saying that no deals shall be made. Rose, who had opposed Claire being the culprit, finally gave in to reveal the truth. She was found in contempt of justice and arrested for not reported the murder. She wanted to protect Grace up until she couldn't take anymore guilt on the matter. Cast Main cast * Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler * Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson * Richard Belzer as Detective John Munch (credit only) * Stephanie March as A.D.A. Alexandra Cabot * Ice-T as Detective Odafin Tutuola * Dann Florek as Captain Donald Cragen Recurring cast * Tamara Tunie as M.E. Melinda Warner * Joanna Merlin as Judge Lena Petrovsky * Tom O'Rourke as Judge Mark Seligman * Judith Light as Bureau Chief Elizabeth Donnelly * Magaly Colimon as Dr. Erica Olsen Guest cast * Mary Steenburgen as Grace Rinato * Martha Plimpton as Claire Rinato * J. Kyle Manzay as Malcolm * Estelle Parsons as Rose Rinato * Danny Johnson as Attorney Sean Kramer * Andrew Polk as Dr. Devere * William Oliver Watkins as Uniform Officer #1 * Chris Meyer as Harding * Noel True as Tina * Nadia Bowers as Bella * Michael Knowles as Arthur Felton * Sam Guncler as Gary Barbour * Charles Goad as Court Clerk * Sal Petraccione as Hotel Clerk * Albert Jones as Uniform Officer #2 References * Lisa Rinato * Anthony Rinato Quotes (Fin leans in towards Claire) (Fin hands Claire a package) (Claire takes the package and unwraps it to find a portrait of Lisa.) Background information and notes * Actor Richard Belzer doesn't appear as Detective John Munch in this episode. * The episode title "Denial" was also used for the Law & Order eighth season episode, "Denial (L&O)". * Actress Martha Plimpton was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal of Claire Rinato. Episode scene cards Category:SVU episodes